When Carol Danvers showed up and took them to a planet where Thanos was hiding, Steve thought that they actually stood a chance at getting the stones and bringing everyone back. Only to discover that Thanos had gone to detrimental lengths to destroy the stones, to the point where he almost killed himself. Any chance the Avengers had at snapping everyone back was gone. Thor was the one who ended Thanos' life that day.
Everyone lost hope after that.
Banner had gone to Mexico to regroup after spending so long in space. He also wanted to try and find out what was happening with him and the Hulk.
Thor disappeared, Steve could only assume he was in Norway with his people in New Asgard.
Natasha stayed at the Avengers Compound, trying to locate Barton. They found out his family had been blipped– that was what people were calling the Snap now– and he had taken to the mass murdering of criminals as, "Ronan". Steve visited her sometimes.
Tony... Tony hadn't spoken to Steve after he yelled at him at the Compound. Though he heard that he had brought Pepper to a remote cabin in Georgia.
And Steve? Well a few years after the Blip, he had started running group therapy sessions. It helped him as much as it helped other people with grief. It also reminded him of Sam and what he used to do. They talked about the people they lost, offered advice to one another, and did therapeutic exercises together. It made the constant feeling of loss feel just a bit easier, though it never went away.
In total, 5 years passed since the Blip. Almost every second had been absolutely awful. It was much, much worse than the 4 years Steve had spent without y/n because he knew that she was safe then. He was also busy. Avengers' business was grueling and time-consuming work. But these past 5 years, he had nothing to do but mourn. Steve blamed himself for all that was lost. He blamed himself for losing her.
On one of his visits to see Natasha, he found her ending a call with Rhodey as she asked about Clint once more. She was crying as she ate a peanut butter sandwich, her hands covering her face.
He leaned against a shelf, watching her. "You know, I'd offer to cook you dinner but... you seem pretty miserable already."
Nat put her hands down. "You here to do your laundry?"
"And to see a friend."
"Clearly, your friend is fine." Clearly, she wasn't.
He nodded and there was a pause before he changed the subject. "You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge."
"In the Hudson?" she asked, surprised.
"There's fewer ships, cleaner water."
"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, umm... I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich." She smirked at him.
"Hmm." He took a breath and pushed himself off of the shelf. "Sorry. Force of habit."
He put his jacket on a chair and his car keys on the table before sitting down across from Nat. She put her plate forward, but he crossed his arms and leaned back, looking at her.
"You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and grow. Some do. But not us."
"If I move on, who does this?"
"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."
She shook her head, her eyes tearing up again. "I used to have nothing. And then I got this, this job, this family. And I was... I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better."
"I think we both need to get a life."
"You first."
He smiled at her, but as soon as she said that there was a ding and she answered a security camera's call.
"Oh, hi, hi! Uh, is anyone home? This is uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport in Germany? I was the guy who got really big. I had a mask on, you wouldn't recognize me–"
"Is this an old message?" Lang kept going on about who he was. Steve didn't want to get his hopes up.
Nat shook her head in astonishment. "It's the front gate."
~~~~~~~
The multitude of events that went down after Lang showed up was unbelievable, and they did end up succeeding in getting all six of the infinity stones back. It all went by so fast. They lost Natasha, but they did it. Natasha would want them to get everyone back as soon as possible.
Getting the stones into the gauntlet that Tony made took patience, then there was the debate of who was going to snap their fingers and bring everyone back.
Eventually, they decided that Bruce should do it. As he said, the radiation was mostly gamma and provided his history with that... it makes sense.
After a painful minute of the stones' power nearly tearing Bruce apart, he snapped his fingers. The lockdown that Tony initiated right before was disabled while pretty much everyone checked on Banner to see if he was okay.
Out of nowhere, the Compound blew up and Steve was knocked unconscious. He woke up with a gasp when Tony kicked him in the leg.
"That's my man." He stood above him, holding his shield. "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."
"What happened?"
"You mess with time, it tends to mess back. You'll see."
He allowed Tony to help pull him to his feet and then followed him out of the rubble, where Thor was standing. Steve looked out, and there he saw Thanos sitting still, his huge spaceship hovering above them.
Tony spoke first. "What's he been doing?"
Thor shook his head. "Absolutely nothing."
"Where are the stones?" Steve asked.
"Somewhere under all this." Tony gestured to the wreckage. How were they ever going to find the stones in this? "All I know is that he doesn't have 'em."
"So we keep it that way."
"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor commented.
"Yeah..." Tony shrugged. "I don't much care."
"Good. Just as long as we're all in agreement." Thunder cracked and then lightning struck to Steve's right. He didn't flinch, just kept looking at their target. "Let's kill him properly this time."
The three of them made their way towards Thanos, Tony on his left and Thor on his right. They were facing him again after all these years, but this time they had something that they didn't last time. This time, they had each other.
"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me." Steve kept moving closer to the murderer as Tony and Thor started circling him. "I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."
"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn," Tony piped up.
"I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do." Thanos stood up, put his helmet on his head, and grabbed his double-bladed sword. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teaming with life that knows not what was lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."
"Born out of blood," said Steve.
"They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them."
Thor let out a battle cry before all three of them attacked Thanos at once. Steve was thrown out of the way within two of his attacks, but he got up and kept fighting. Tony was tossed away. Thanos was pushing Thor's ax into his chest, nothing to protect him.
Steve saw an opportunity and he took it. He lifted Mjolnir from the ground, spinning it in his hand before hurling it as hard as he could at Thanos.
It came right back to his hand. The alien looked at him in annoyance, and Steve readied himself in a fighting stance.
He was doing really well for about 15 seconds before Thanos grabbed him by the neck and slammed him to the ground. He rolled over, but he was attacked by the double-bladed sword and couldn't do anything but dodge and block.
Mjolnir was knocked out of his hand, so Steve held up his shield to not get decapitated. Thanos hit him over and over until what Steve thought was impossible, happened.
His shield broke.
It kept breaking into pieces and Thanos threw him away again. Half his shield was gone and he laid yards away from Thanos, who looked as if he'd not suffered a scratch from their efforts.
"In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal." Steve rolled onto his stomach, straining to even breathe. "But I'll tell you now... what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet, I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."
Dozens of smaller ships landed on the ground from the larger one and opened up to let out thousands of those mindless creatures. More aliens that he recognized from Wakanda and even New York practically poured out in waves.
He stayed there for a second, beaten and exhausted. All of his men were down and he needed to step up, even if it meant fighting Thanos alone. Whatever it takes.
So he stood up. Because that's what Steve Rogers had always done. Even though it hurt, even though he was against all odds and knew he'd never make it out alive. His trembling hands reached for the strap to his broken shield and he pulled hard.
He walked forward, facing Thanos' army. With no one else by his side, he came to terms with his imminent death. But he refused to die without giving each and every last bit of his strength into this fight.
His comms suddenly went off with a voice he hadn't heard in five years. "Hey, Cap, can you read me? Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?"
Steve looked up, breathing deeply, putting his finger on his earpiece. It couldn't be...
"On your left."
~~~~~~~
Almost done with the story<3